Five-membered cyclic carbonate compounds, which make use of carbon dioxide as a raw material, are known for some time as reported in Non-patent Documents 1 and 2. Under the current situation, however, the development of their applications has not moved ahead, because high-molecular compounds synthesized from the above-described, conventionally-known compounds as starting materials are evidently inferior in characteristics to fossil-based, high-molecular compounds (see Patent Documents 1 and 2).
However, the global warming phenomenon which can be considered to be attributable to the ever-increasing emission of carbon dioxide in recent years has become a worldwide problem, and a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions has arisen as a critical issue for the entire world. The change to renewable resources such as biomass and methane has also become a worldwide trend from the viewpoint of the problem of exhaustible fossil resources (petroleum).
Under such a background as described above, 5-membered cyclic carbonate compounds are drawing a fresh look again. Carbon dioxide, which is a raw material for these compounds, is a readily-available and sustainable carbon resource, and moreover, plastics that make use of carbon dioxide as a replacement for fossil resources can be considered to be effective means for resolving problems such as global warming and resource depletion.